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Drew and Melanie Shaffran relax in their expansive back yard. ?We?re happy to be here,? says Melanie.
WELCOME HOME
How a two-story addition, an eye for detail, and a fresh coat of paint coaxed the
best out of Drew and Melanie Schaffran?s Katonah house and made it the home
they?d always wanted.
BY SUSAN HODARA, PHOTOS BY DION OGUST
When Melanie and Drew Schaffran, house hunting in
Katonah in 2003 after 18 years in nearby Chappaqua,
pulled into the driveway of the second house they were
shown, their reaction was less than enthusiastic.
"We almost told the realtor to turn around," recalls
Melanie, the mother of Brett, now 17, and Lindsay, 20,
and at the time about to start college. "The house was
salmon pink and ugly brown—more Miami than Katonah.
And it had a gate! It was very different from what we
thought we wanted."
What Melanie, an avid gardener with a passion for
entertaining, and Drew, a partner in a Manhattan law
firm, thought they wanted was a colonial or a farmhouse,
large enough for their family and an expanding
assortment of pets (which now includes Gracie, a fourmonth-old retriever; Kiwi, a two-year-old ferret; Prince, a
five-year-old African gray parrot; and three fish). This
house was a Mediterranean, built in 1967.
It didn't take them long, however, to recognize the
The arches in a second-floor corridor are
property's assets. A 4,500-square-foot three-bedroom
in a cast iron banister; a chandelier
bordering a nature preserve in the exclusive Mount Holly echoed
hangs from the 30-foot-high cathedral ceiling
section of town, the house boasted an expansive living
in the living room.
room, pine-beamed cathedral ceilings, stucco walls, and
abundant fireplaces; an adjacent 600-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath cottage and 300square-foot studio; and gardens, then neglected but fertile with possibilities.
"Afterwards, the colonials and farmhouses we saw seemed less interesting," says Melanie. "They
didn't hold the potential of this house."
Three years later, that potential has been more than realized. This summer the Schaffrans, who
spent the last 20 seasons on Martha's Vineyard, stayed home. "Our house has replaced the
Vineyard," Melanie says.
Besides repainting the exterior in a more palatable color scheme (tan and olive green),
transforming the house involved accomplishing several goals. Foremost was to make the space
"comfortable and welcoming," says Melanie.
The renovation
addressed limitations
upstairs, including a
too-small master bath
and inadequate closet
space in the master
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Welcome Home - New York House Magazine
2/15/09 9:39 AM
bedroom.
In addition, the
Schaffrans wanted to
maximize contact with
their natural
surroundings. "This area
is bucolic and beautiful,"
Melanie says. "Some of
the prettiest views are
to the north, but there
was little exposure in
that direction."
A loveseat in a downstairs hallway.
Some of the Schaffrans? antique
furnishings were passed down to them
from family members. In the spacious
and light-filled living room, the large
coffee table was once a Chinese opium
bed.
The solution lay in a
two-story, 1,000square-foot addition on
the north side of the
house that includes a
window-lined sitting and dining area adjacent to the kitchen, a luxurious master bath overlooking
the branches of a hearty holly tree, and what Melanie calls a "bonus room" in the basement that
will eventually house a wine cellar. The majority of the construction took about nine months,
guided by Lawrence Borges of Lawrence Borges Architects in Manhattan (212-353-1320;
[email protected]).
Continued
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